This document analyzes startup names from the 2012 MassChallenge competition. It finds that most names were between 5-10 characters long, with the most popular first letters being S, C, P, and T. The majority of winning startups and finalists had names beginning with S. The document provides this analysis to help guide startups in choosing a unique yet effective name.

1. HOW STARTUPS ARE NAMED
An analysis of startup names used
in the 2012 MassChallenge.
By John Lohavichan
Founder of Grademypitch
jlohavichan@grademypitch.com

2. NAMING A STARTUP IS HARD

3. HOW TO BE DIFFERENT?

4. KNOWING HOW OTHER STARTUP ARE
NAMED CAN BE A HELPFUL GUIDE

5. SUMMARY OF THE 2012
MASSCHALLENGE STARTUP NAMES
 449 Different Startup Names (as of 4/3/2012)
 Average Length = 13 Characters
 Smallest = 2 Characters (R3)
 Longest = 50 Characters (Integrative Medicine & Holistic Health
Association)

6. POPULAR NAMES INCLUDE:
TECHNOLOGIES, SYSTEMS &
SOLUTIONS*
*Note – LLC, Corp, Inc, etc… were filtered out

7. “S”, “C”, “P” & “T” ARE THE 4 MOST
POPULAR BEGINNING LETTERS
50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0

8. MOST NAMES ARE 5-10
200
CHARACTERS
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
<5 6-10 11-15 16-20 21-25 26-30 >30
Number of Characters

9. WHAT CAN HISTORY TELL US ABOUT
WHO WINS THE MASSCHALLENGE?
 Looked at the Finalists
and Money Winners from
2010 & 2011
 Total of 236 Startup
Names
 Special Thanks to Josh
Bielick for suggesting this
idea!

10. THE MAJORITY OF MONEY WINNERS
AND FINALISTS BEGIN WITH THE
30
LETTER “S”
25
20
15
Money Winners
Finalists
10
5
0

11. SUMMARY
 Naming a Startup is Hard
 Being different is easy if you take the time to do research
 Statistical analysis of names can help guide you
 Begin your startup name with the letter “S” if you’re superstitious

12. ASSEMBLED BY
GRADEMYPITCH.COM
You can vote for us & other MassChallenge
startups at
http://masschallenge.org/profile/grademypitch